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Why go
- One of the better sand beaches on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, and the closest real beach to London.
- A working harbour rather than an ornamental one — a commercial freshwater fishery still operates out of it.
- The King George VI lift bridge still lifts, for sailboats, in the middle of the village.
- The heritage railway runs up the old London & Port Stanley line towards St. Thomas, which is how most people arrived here for a century.
History
The mouth of Kettle Creek was a landing and portage on an early route inland from Lake Erie, used by Adrien Jolliet in 1669 and by a steady line of travellers after him; the site was designated a National Historic Site in 1923 and marked with a cairn. Lieutenant-Colonel John Bostwick took the first land grant and settled here in 1804, and around 1824 the place was renamed for Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby — whose son Frederick, as Governor General, donated the first Stanley Cup in 1893. The London & Port Stanley Railway then made this London's beach: excursion trains ran down to the lake, and the L&PS pavilion of 1926, later the Stork Club, had a 13,000-square-foot dance floor and booked the big bands. Passenger service ended in 1957; the Stork Club closed on New Year's Eve 1978 and a fire twelve days later finished it.
Major sights
When it rains, or when it is February
Restaurants & places to go
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Airports
Where things are
Photographs
credit: Loozrboy from Toronto, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
credit: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
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When to go
Beach season, and the only stretch when the village is fully open. Weekend parking near the beach is gone by mid-morning; arrive early or park up the hill and walk.
September is the pick. Erie is shallow and holds its heat, so the water is still swimmable well after the crowds have gone, and the hawk migration is on at Hawk Cliff. June is quieter and the lake is colder.
Most seasonal businesses close, the theatre is dark, and the wind off Erie is the main event. Worth a walk on the pier if you are already nearby; not worth the drive on its own.
Getting there & around
Getting there. About 30 minutes south of London and 15 from St. Thomas on Highway 4. There is no public transit worth planning around: this is a drive, or the heritage train up from St. Thomas in season.
Getting around. Walkable end to end — beach, bridge and restaurants sit within a few hundred metres of each other. The difficulty is parking, not distance, and the village is built on a hill above the creek, so the walk back up from the beach is real.